Bilbo Baggins and the Most Unexpected Night
by Two Last Words
Summary: Tales of child snatchers have reached the Shire, that's why when Bilbo Baggins hears what he believes to be children in distress he can't ignore it. Slow Burn Future Bagginshield . Edited Hobbit Culture and Aging. Slightly messed up timeline.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't unusual to hear the happy shouts and screeches of children around the Shire. It was less uncommon, of course, for these noises to be heard after dark, but still one could explain away the noises if they wished. On this night though, Bilbo Baggins, couldn't find it within him to explain away the noise.

That's how the prim and proper Hobbit had found himself outside of his hobbit hole at such a late hour. The moon was already in the sky and the ground was cooling, Bilbo's feet made no noise as he quickly made his way toward the sounds of the distressed children.

You see the story actually started back in Bilbo's hobbit hole, Bag End, nearly an hour before. Bilbo had been sitting by the fire, warm and cozy when a draft of cool air blew through the hobbit's home making him shiver. It was with great reluctance that Bilbo pushed himself out of his chair and onto his feet. Hobbit feet were tough but after warming ever so nicely in from of the fire, Bilbo would admit that his toes ached from the cold.

Finding the open window was easy simply following the cold air he found it quickly and when it was nearly closed, Bilbo paused. Shouting? It was much too late for shouting, all respectable hobbits were in bed at this hour. In fact that is where Bilbo knew he should be so he put the shouting out of his mind and started closing the window again, when the shout was heard once more. This time, softer, but still able to be heard.

The hobbit frowned, it sounded almost like a child. Shaking his head he turned away from the window and walked back to his chair. No hobbit mother or father would let their children be out and about at this time of night. Especially not with the stories that were going around. Horrible stories of child-snatchers. Men had come into Bree telling tales of children been snatched from their beds and taken who knew where. The hobbits had taken these stories to heart when they reached the Shire, Bilbo frowned and shuddered not wanting to think on it any more.

Sitting in his chair, warm and comfy he couldn't forget the scream. He pictured a young hobbit, out after dark looking for adventures being snatched. The more he though about the more uneasy he got. It was rather sudden when he found himself on his feet. Better safe then sorry, he thought to himself. He grabbed his walking stick and a cloak before walking out of Bag End, not knowing what he would find.

As he walked the closer he got the shouts the more sure that he was that it was a child. He could no longer hope it was just an animal. He knew it was a child, because the closer he got the more distinct the sounds themselves got. In fact, the closer he got, Bilbo was sure that he started hearing two high childish voices and they sounded frightened. The hobbit gripped his walking stick tightly as he moved closer to the children. They had settled into a clearing and as he silent moved forward he could see now they were not hobbit children, young men, or even elven children, they both had long hair and shoe clad feet, one blond the other dark haired, they had to be the children of dwarves.

Bilbo set his walking stick down and moved closer, "Hello there," he called out when he broke the tree line. The blond child shoved the smaller dark headed one behind him and pulled out a small knife. The child bared his teeth like an animal and Bilbo stopped, his mind flashed back to the small hurt animals that he used to bring home to his mother to heal. It was an easy decision to treat them as such, he didn't want to frighten the children more then they already were.

"No need for that now." He said holding both hands up showing that he was unarmed. He kept his voice soft and calm as he spoke to them, "I'm not going to hurt you." He promised, his eyes meeting those of the defensive child. The blond growled, a seemed to reinforce his grip. The smaller child peeked carefully from behind the bigger making sure not to move away but also keeping from hindering the other.

"My name is Bilbo Baggins, I live in the Shire just over the hill, I'm here to help." Bilbo said with a slight smile hoping that he looked friendly to the frightened children. The dark headed child grinned from over his brother's shoulder, Bilbo noticed with a slightly larger smile. The blond, however, continued to scowl and refused to speak or move.

"I'm Kili!" The younger male said rather cheerfully, children were rather remarkable creatures no matter their species. So resilient. "This is Fili!" The one dubbed Fili whipped his head around to yell at Kili when Bilbo stopped him.

"Nice to meet you Kili, Fili." Bilbo said nodding to the children, seeing no other option he sat himself down on the grass and continued to speak. "As I said, my name is Bilbo Baggins and I heard you shouting. What seems to be the problem?"

Kili and Fili who were whispering harshly to each other keep sneaking looks at the hobbit as they argued. Bilbo for his part sat there looking as if it were his life's mission to wait for unruly dwarflings to speak to him. Finally as a moment Fili spoke up. "We're hiding." He said plainly obviously not wanting to speak to the stranger.

Bilbo raised an eyebrow, "Well you aren't doing very well, now where you? Sitting out in the open like this." Bilbo paused and wished for his pipe, these children were stressful. "What were you hiding from?" He hopped that they had just gotten upset with their mother and run off, but that didn't explain the knife Fili carried or the fear in the older dwarf's eyes. Someone else was wrong here, Bilbo was sure of it. He prayed that it wasn't the snatchers but he knew deep within him it was most likely.

"Snatchers." Fili spat. Bilbo frowned, snatchers in the Shire, this was just what he had hoped wasn't happening. Kili drooped and buried his head in Fili's side.

"Are you hurt?" Bilbo asked wanting to move forward to check but as long as Fili held the knife he wouldn' was now of the essence, if snatchers where chasing the children then they needed to move.

Fili frowned and looked Kili over before answering. "No, just bruised, why are you here? Are you with the snatchers?" Kili looked ready to argue with his brother but Bilbo spoke before he could.

"Oh no, no, I would never!" The hobbit protested, "I heard you shouting and thought to come check, we have been hearing tales of snatchers. I'm glad I came, come, we must get to two somewhere safe." Bilbo stood and looked at Fili praying that he would accept the help.

"But Mr. Boggins! You don't understand we have to find-" Young Kili was quieted by his brother when the trio heard the sounds of footsteps. Bilbo felt his heart pound within his chest, it was no hobbit that was coming up on them. He gestured for the young ones to hide. Fili looked desperately at the hobbit and Bilbo looked around there was no where for two young dwarflings to hide, seeing no other option he shoved them into a bush with a thud.

Swearing under his breath Bilbo threw himself to the ground hoping that it would look like he had made the noise. From the tree line to his left, two men entered the clearing. Both men appeared to be drunk, Bilbo could smell the stench from his spot on the ground. He pushed himself up with a slowly. These were the snatchers? Bilbo internally shuddered at the thought of why these men would be after the dwarflings.

"Good evening, my good fellows" He said as cheerfully as he could with frightened dwarflings hiding in the bushes. "What brings you to the Shire this late at night?" He pulled himself to his feet brushing off his trousers and shirt acting as normal as he could.

One man frowned at the hobbit, "Children, we have lost some." Bilbo couldn't help but mentally remark on the eloquence of the man, it was obvious why he could not find reputable work.

Bilbo frowned, acting concerned, all the while planning a way to get the young ones away safely. "All children around these parts are tucked into bed, at this hour." He lied meeting the eyes of the first man, "Why in fact it's time for me to be there myself." Bilbo gave a weak laugh. "In fact as soon as I find where my walking stick rolled, I'll be headed home. I do wish you luck, finding your children." Bilbo nodded waiting for the men to leave the clearing. An actor Bilbo Baggins was not, but he hoped and prayed it would be enough to drive the men away.

The one who had not spoken before coughed and tilted his head in Bilbo's direction, fear shot through his heart did he spot the children? Bilbo turned his head slightly and winced, blond hair was just barely visible through the leaves of the bush.

"Well, had you gentlemen not be off? You have children to find after all..." Bilbo trailed off, foot steps from behind him suddenly caught his attention. Another man, this one wasn't alone. Bilbo turned just enough to see a dwarf even younger then Kili twisting and fighting in the man's arms.

"Ori!" Kili shouted from the bush, completely blowing the two's cover. Bilbo's eyes widened and quickly he reached out and brought the children close to him. Fili had once again unsheathed his dagger, Kili ended up pressed between the older dwarf and the slightly shorter hobbit.

The first man step forward stumbling a bit as he went. "We have no quarrel with you hobbit, the dwarves and you shall go free."

The second smiled a slimy, greasy smile and said, "If you take the knife from the blond we might even give you a cut of the profit."

Bilbo could feel Fili and Kili tense beside them, the youngest dwarf, was sobbing in the arms of the man, and Bilbo knew what he was going to do.

It wasn't often that hobbits would endanger themselves for others, especially ones that weren't kin, but with two, no three young dwarves in need of his assistance all Bilbo could say was. "No, sorry, I'm afraid that's not going to happen."

Angry the first man stepped forward the second quickly following the hobbit stepped in front of the dwarflings. His mind was racing he had to get the baby dwarf from the arms of the man, and get the two behind him as far away from these creatures as possible. Suddenly the man holding Ori shouted and the thump of dwarfling hitting ground was heard. Small swift feet brought the smallest dwarf to the hobbit's side. Faintly Bilbo could hear the man shouting that the dwarf had bit him and Bilbo winced, he was going to have to clean the boy's mouth out now so the child didn't catch anything.

"Way to go Ori!" Kili said grinning, he obviously didn't grasp the situation at hand but Bilbo didn't have time to explain it to him. Fili hushed the smaller children easily. The men approached, now much angrier then before and a decision had to be made.

"Run!" Bilbo shouted giving the children a shove in the direction he wanted to run. Fili and Kili took off like rabbits running for all they were worth. Ori stumbled once before Bilbo somehow managed to swing the smallest dwarf onto his back, it wasn't easy as the child wasn't light but Bilbo did his best.

The men, while longer legged were hindered by their drunkenness, stumbled after the dwarves and hobbit. Bilbo huffed and puffed struggling to get the smallest dwarf and himself to safety. In his mind he promised himself to cut back on biscuits at second breakfast, just in case he found himself in this situation again.

"They're catching up," Ori said sharply into Bilbo's sensitive ear gritting his teeth the hobbit pushed forward. Ori screamed and Bilbo felt himself falling one of the men caught up enough to grab at the clothing on the dwarf, Bilbo fell forward Ori rolled a few feet away.

Dazed Bilbo waved the child forward. "Go! Find the others hide!" Bruised tired and confused Bilbo stood, wavering slightly as Ori ran. These men were not going to hurt the child, it didn't matter what else happened, Bilbo was sure of that. Weaponless, hurt it mattered not, Bilbo Baggins was a respectable hobbit and he wasn't going to allow the children to come to harm. No matter what.


	2. Chapter 2

Standing his ground, he pretended that he didn't feel his legs shaking, Bilbo faced the snatchers head on. He didn't feel very confident about this was without a weapon (and even if he did have a weapon, Bilbo had never held more then a kitchen knife in his life!) and without a clear idea of what to do Bilbo embraced his long buried Took side. The hobbit charged right at one of the men and caught that man around the knees. Bilbo threw his weight to one side making the man fall all the while trying to keep himself from getting squished.

Bilbo released the legs of the now grounded man and turned his attention to the others, they too appeared to be weaponless so at least he was on slightly more even ground. Charging again Bilbo ran at the man with the voice like grease, before he knew it Bilbo found himself swung up into the air, the man had caught on to what he had planned to do and simply picked the halfling up to stop him.

The hobbit put up quite a fight, Bilbo thrashed and struggled in the arms of his capture, swearing and biting any time he found enough flesh to grab onto. He heard the man cry out and nearly drop him, at least twice, but his feet never touched ground.

"Help me, someone!" The greasy man cried struggling not to loose his grip on the halfling, soon another pair of hands grabbed the hobbit and Bilbo bemoaned the fact. Still fighting he snapped his teeth at a stray hand that wandered too close to his mouth, kicked at a chest that got too close, sadly it was all for naught. All too soon he found himself gagged, hands tied behind his back, and feet tied together.

Bilbo muttered angrily behind his gag, as the men argued among themselves. They had wandered back behind the trees taking the bound halfling with them, Bilbo's eyes scanned what little ground he could see trying to find a way out of the mess he had found himself in.

"We have to find the children, the older two especially, or we wont get paid!" The man that had held Ori said as if they other two didn't realize this. The slimy man scowled and shoved at his partner and the other scoffed.

"We know that, fool! We will find them," The slimy man turned to the bound and gagged hobbit and smiled, his nasty greasy smile stretched across his face making Bilbo shudder. "And out hobbit friend will tell us exactly where they are."

"Start a fire, Ric, we will have to make sure our hobbit friend understands how badly we need to find those brats." The first man told the last. 'Ric' nodded and began gathering brush to build a fire. Bilbo who had been working frantically to free himself began doubling his efforts to get away. He wanted nothing to do with that fire, nothing at all.

It took only moments for the men to get a fire started, when the fire grew to an acceptable height, the greasy man bent down and retrieved a small knife from his boot. Bilbo moaned behind his gag and closed his eyes, he suddenly had an idea of how this was going to work. The man named Ric grabbed the hobbit by his bound feet and dragged him closer to the fire. Bilbo's head bounced once and sharp rocks and sticks raked across his back, the gag kept him from crying out.

The greasy man grinned down at the bound hobbit. "We are going to play a game. I will ask a question and you will answer it, if you don't..." The slimy man nodded over to his nameless friend who was heating his knife blade in the fire. "Well, I'm sure you get the idea..."

Bilbo inhaled deeply through his nose and felt the the greasy man grip his hair tightly and jerk his head upwards to remove the gag. The hobbit bit back a whimper, now wasn't the time for that. He started straight up, counting the stars in his line of view when he heard the greasy man ask a question. He wouldn't say anything, he couldn't say anything. Bilbo liked to think that even if he did know where the children were hiding he wouldn't say anything.

"Where are the children?"

The Tookish part of his brain spat obscene words and snarled viciously at the sadistic men, all the while his eyes never left the stars. One beat, two beats, three beats. Three heart beats later, "Do it." Bilbo braced himself for the pain, when a shout from his captures made him jerk his eyes away. What? A rock hit the bound hobbit in the stomach and he left out a little 'oof.'

"Sorry Mr. Boggins!" Bilbo shot up fear once again racing through him, Kili that was Kili! As the men scrambled to avoid the rocks being pelted at them, Bilbo scanned the area where the rocks where coming from and saw a single dark head ducking behind a tree. The men obviously saw it as well and scrambled after him. In their haste Bilbo was shoved over, dangerously close to the fire. The hobbit could feel the heat against his skin and flinched, the flames slowly began to lick at his fingers as he tried to scoot away from the burning flames. Closing his eyes Bilbo didn't see the small dwarf feet and as the heat grew he didn't hear the hard breathing of the dwarflings. It was two sharp tugs from his head and feet area that brought the hobbit away from the flames and allowed Bilbo looked up at his saviors. Fili and Ori.

"What are you doing? What about Kili?" He hissed at the oldest, surely he would have had better sense. The blond was busy sawing at the ropes to reply so the task fell onto the youngest to answer.

"Well Mr. Boggins, sir, as long as Kili is in the tree they shouldn't be able to get him." Ori explained trying to untie the knots at his feet. It was simple child's logic, and Bilbo hoped it to be true.

As he lifted his head as best as possible to see, it was with relief that yes, Kili had made it into the tree and no the men had yet to figure out how to follow him. Bilbo gave a relieved sigh that was echoed by Fili's happy little shout when the robes finally gave under the knife. Pulling his hands to his chest Bilbo quickly looked them over, a bit red and tender but nothing that couldn't be handled and there were bigger things to worry about currently. Between the three of them Bilbo,Fili and Ori made quick work of the ropes at his feet and the hobbit stood a bit uneasily. The spots where the ropes were arched fiercely but the halfling ignored it.

The men shouted and raved at the tree bound dwarf, Kili was laughing and throwing nuts from the tree onto their heads only making matters worse. As the men shouted abuse and threats of death, Bilbo hardened his heart and knew that he needed to do something. "Fili I need your help. We're going to tie them up, okay? When they get closer to the tree you and I will take the rope." Bilbo picked up the rope that was left from when they tied him up and shouldered it carefully. "Ori I need you to hide until we come get you. Try and climb a tree like Kili, okay?" Ori nodded and took off for the nearest tree. Fili met Bilbo's eyes evenly and the hobbit nodded; it was time to save Kili.

Bilbo caught the attention of the men easily. Simply being untied was enough of a shock, but the words Bilbo used were not very hobbit like at all, of course the men probably didn't know it but they were shocked all the same. Kili proved to be a very smart young dwarf and distracted them on his end as well. Together Fili and Bilbo managed to lasso the three men and tie them to the tree. Not very happy with his work Bilbo quickly called Kili down, of course the cheeky young dwarf had to make use of the new step ladder that Mr. Boggins and his brother provided. Bilbo enjoyed hearing the curing of the men as they received a dwarf foot to the head or shoulders. Bilbo did wince in sympathy once when young Kili made sure to swing his foot just right to catch the slimy man's groin.

Once safely on the ground and tucked into Fili's side, Bilbo told the children to go find Ori. Bilbo didn't want them around for this talk. Fili left with a knowing look in his eyes, his dagger on the ground where he had set it to help pull the rope tight. Bilbo walked over to the knife and met the eyes of the slimy man. "Now we are playing my game."

–

It didn't take long to find Ori, as Fili could easily see the youngest dwarf's foot hanging off the branch. He hadn't even picked a very high one. Deciding to be mean now that the danger had passed, Fili grabbed the foot and yanked pulling the younger dwarf off the branch with a cry. Kili laughed the whole time even as Ori teared up, sitting on the ground in front of the brothers.

"Why'd you do that?" Ori cried rubbing at his eyes, he didn't mean to be a cry baby but he had a rough night. He wasn't a tough as Fili and Kili, he just wanted Dori and Nori, he wanted to go home.

"You baby you weren't hiding very well, what if we were the men? Huh? They would have gotten you...again!" Kili teased with a grin still tucked into his brother's side. While he had been scared by the men it was over now and he thought this was just a grand adventure and he couldn't wait to tell Uncle Thorin all about it.

"He's right, Ori, what if we were the men? They would have gotten you again." Fili scolded trying to act older then he was. Fili had one hand tightly gripping his brother's tunic, unwilling to get go. "Come on, you big baby, we've got to get back to Mr. Boggins," Fili told the youngest dwarf, he had decided that since the oldest, and since Mr. Boggins wasn't around, that made him in charge. It was his job to look after the babies.

Ori sniffed and wiped at his nose with his hand but didn't reply or get up. He just wanted to go home where it was warm and safe. Blinking wetly Ori caught sight of the dwarflings savior as he walked unsteadily toward the trio.

"Ori, dear, please don't use your hand to wipe your nose." Bilbo said coming up behind the dwarves, Fili and Kili jumped and whirled around ready to run or fight before relaxing at the sight of their 'Mr. Boggins.' Bilbo himself felt rather jumpy so he didn't comment. He patted the two standing dwarves and focused on little Ori.

Bilbo crouched down next to the younger dwarf,happy to be closer to the ground as he shook less, and offered a handkerchief to the child. Bilbo brought the handkerchief up to the dwarf's nose when the child made no move to take it, "Blow." Ori gave a mighty blow and Bilbo smiled slightly and tossed the dirty piece of cloth behind him. "Now, because I don't know what to do with small dwarf children in the middle of the night, you all will come with me, get some sleep and we will settle this in the morning, yes?" Bilbo looked at Fili to see if he could object. The eldest dwarf nodded and Kili not wanting to be left out nodded as well.

Smiling to himself, a stiff hard smile, Bilbo stood from his squatting position and helped Ori to his feet. "Come along now, when we get to Bag End I'll get up something hot to drink and then it's off to bed." All Bilbo could thing about was his Hobbit Hole, his warm bed and forgetting this night had ever happened.

"Where's Bag End, Mr. Boggins?" Kili asked grasping Bilbo's hand that wasn't holding Ori's.

Bilbo smiled this time a real smile, "Mr. Baggins, Kili, Baggins." he paused, "Of course after what we went through tonight I can't imagine you calling me that, so Bilbo will do just fine thank you." Kili nodded seriously and peppered the tired hobbit with more questions. As they walked Bilbo explained what Bag End was, what Bilbo himself was, and generally listened to Kili babble.

If Fili noticed that Bilbo walked them away from the tree where the men were tied he didn't mentioned it. No one did.


	3. Chapter 3

**Is anyone even reading this?**

* * *

Settling into Bag End was easier said then done. With three very tired children who had just had a horrible night it was easy to understand why it wasn't easy to settle them. Bilbo sat them down, wrapped them up and gave all three a nice glass of warm didn't take long for the children to start drifting off, Ori began to nod off first so Bilbo took his cup and sat it on the table. "I'll take him back, you two sit still and I'll come back for you, alright?" Fili nodded sleepily and Kili took another drink to hide a yawn.

Bilbo and Ori worked together to get the littlest dwarf washed up the best they could and tucked into the guest room that the three would share. With little Ori tucked away, Bilbo set his sights on Kili. It took a moment to wrestle away to cup and them pry the child from his brother but Bilbo managed, barely. Fili was too asleep to notice at this point and barely managed to keep himself sitting up. After washing the grumpy dwarfling Bilbo tucked him in to bed and smiled when Ori cuddled the slightly bigger Kili.

When he returned for his final charge, Bilbo wasn't surprised to see Fili fighting to stay awake. "Come, lets get you to bed."

Fili shook his head. "Can't, snatchers." The dwarflings eyes slipped down and he pried them back open with pure force of will. "Wont let them take us again."

Bilbo exhaled softly and put his hand on the young man's face. "They can't hurt you anymore. I've made sure of that." Bilbo didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to mention it, he just wanted it to go away, forever. Intellectually he knew that it wouldn't, the memories would haunt him for quite a bit longer, but tonight Fili needed the reassurance. He needed to know that the snatchers couldn't hurt any more.

Fili gave the hobbit a slightly confused look before the words caught up to his brain. Fili smiled slightly as he stumbled behind Bilbo and let the hobbit rinse some of the dirt from his skin before being tucked into bed like a child. After a moment's hesitation Bilbo left the room and returned with the dagger that Fili had loaned him. The three children were asleep and after watching them sleep for a moment Bilbo climbed up on the bed curling himself up into a little hobbit ball at the foot of the bed. He was unwilling to let the children go unprotected not tonight. Sleep didn't take the hobbit that night, but that was alright. The knife never left his hand and Bilbo knew that if someone had walked through the door he would have used it.

–

Bilbo was up before the sun, he watched the Shire awaken and he heard the screams when the bodies were found. He was sure that everyone would believe that drunken men had wondered too close to the Shire and ate the wrong plant it had happened before long ago. Luckily, early before the rest of the hobbits had risen Bilbo had gone out and made sure that's what it looked like. He drug the men to their fire hidden the rope and left. He couldn't do much more then that.

After cleaning up his murder scene, Bilbo tried to focus on making breakfast, instead of watching when they brought the bodies into the Shire. Scones, eggs, bacon, food piled up on the table. It was almost enough to feed two hobbits, which meant three dwarflings and one hobbit could finish it off easy. His thoughts whispered traitorously, but the hobbit managed to push them back. He instead focused on the food and frowned at the amount of food. He might need to make more.

Just as he turned to the stove to make more food a little head stuck itself out of the door. "Mr. Boggins? er... Bilbo, sir?" Little Ori stood at the door way. "Where is the bathroom?"

Bilbo smiled at the child and showed him the way. "Make sure to wash up for breakfast, when your done come eat," He told the dwarfling. Ori's head bobbed affirmative as he entered the wash room. Leaving Ori to his privacy Bilbo turned his attention to the other two dwarflings in his home. He had yet to hear a peep from them and it was a little unnerving.

Bilbo peeked into the bedroom and had to stuff his fist into his mouth to cover his cooing. Somehow, Kili had ended up curling up on his brothers chest like a large cat. Fili had a face full of his brother's hair but was still snoring like a champion. Loath as he was to wake them Bilbo knew that he needed too, lest breakfast go cold.

"Fili." Bilbo called out not wanting to startle the children. No reaction. "Kili!" Bilbo said a little louder. Still nothing. Bilbo was at a loss, he wasn't sure how to wake them without scaring them. "Breakfast time, boys, get up." he said louder. Still nothing. Cautiously Bilbo moved in to shake Kili's shoulder. Still nothing.

Frowning, if they weren't snoring so loud Bilbo would have thought they were dead. Shaking his head he was about to get Ori when he heard the dwarfling's voice from behind him. "That's not how you do it, Mr. Bilbo. It's like this." With a running jump, Ori sailed onto the bed with a scream. He began hopping and shouting. "Breakfast time, breakfast time! I'm going to eat it all!"

Fili woke right away. "Shut up Ori. I'm sleeping," he sat sitting up to glare at the still jumping and grinning dwarfling. A disgruntled Kili slipped into his brother's lap.

"Whacha gotta yell for?" He complained rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand. Bilbo restrained another coo, it wasn't fair that dwarflings were so cute.

"Mr. Bilbo said it's breakfast time and it smells really good. Get up!" Ori whined tugging on Fili's hand.

Fili grumbled but stood, Kili who was still sitting on his brother, until that point, tumbled and fell to the floor. Ori snickered and helped his friend up while Bilbo watched from the door with a smile. This was nice. "Go wash up, Fili, you too Kili and then we can start breakfast."

Fili and Kili both brightened at the thought of food so Bilbo and Ori walked back into the kitchen to start setting up. Just as Bilbo finished filled Ori's plate Kili sauntered into the kitchen and took his place. Bilbo raised an eyebrow at the youngster and had to ask. "Where's Fili?" No answer, just a smug looking little dwarf that took his seat at the table. Bilbo rolled his eyes and filled Kili's plate and sighed when he heard angry stomps from the bathroom. "What did you do, Kili?" While Bilbo didn't have siblings he was sure that having mean cousins was about the same. So he expected that Kili had done something to irritate the eldest dwarf.

Kili just smiled and started his breakfast. Fili entered the kitchen cursing and waving his hands angrily he looked like he wanted more then to wring his brother's neck. Bilbo put a stop to that right away. "None of that now. Sit down and eat your breakfast. We will discuss this after you eat. One more word like that and I'll wash your mouth out. This is my home and I will not tolerate such language."

Fili blushed red and sat down quietly, he didn't like being scolded by the hobbit. The four ate in silence, all lost in their respective thoughts. Bilbo's mind was whirling with thoughts of his dark night. The hobbit did what he could to think about other things. Breakfast, his books, dwarves. Yes, dwarflings, Bibo decided to focus on the dwarflings. He had three dwarflings that belong elsewhere, in his home. It was all rather confusing when he thought about it too long or too hard.

The three boys finished about the same time, and Bilbo soon after, with breakfast done and the plates stacked in the kitchen to be washed Bilbo sat back down at the table with the boys read to find some answers. Kili was sitting in his chair kicking his feet as high as they could go. Ori was tilting his head back as far as he could to stare at the ceiling and Fili as digging at his teeth as if something was stuck. Bilbo wanted to sigh, this was why he didn't want children.

"Alright boys. Time to talk. First things first. How did you end up here?" Bilbo wasn't really sure what question to ask first but in the end he decided at random. It was Kili that answered, surprisingly.

"The snatchers, caught us playing outside. Uncle Thorin and Ma were inside talking about boring adult stuff and we were just playing and this guy comes along and just snatches up Ori! Then a troll walks up and-" Bilbo reached across the table and pressed a finger to the child's lips. He didn't have time for the child's stories.

Bilbo smiled kindly at the boy, "Thank you, Kili, now give the others a turn." It seemed Kili was a storyteller, Bilbo would have to watch that. "Ori, Fili?"

Fili huffed and rolled his eyes, "Stupid little brother. That's not what happened." Fili met Bilbo's eyes and gave the hobbit a long suffering look. Bilbo had to bite back a smile but nodded all the same to get the boy to talk. "We were sitting outside waiting on Ma and Uncle Thorin, but those men came by and said that they were troll hunters. Kili jumped up and asked to go hunt a troll with them." Fili glared at his brother. "Ori tried to tell him not to talk to the men but Kili would not shut up. The men snatched up Ori when he mentioned going to tell his brothers, then grabbed Kili!" Fili said frustrated, Bilbo hushed the little ones before they could say anything.

"I saw them as they were leaving. I almost lost them. Uncle Thorin left me in charge and I almost lost them." Fili slammed his closed fist down on the table. "I let us get snatched and I couldn't protect them. Uncle Thorin is going to be so mad!" Frustrated tears pooled in the blond's eyes. Bilbo wanted to comfort the child but he didn't. He wasn't sure if he could. "I followed them for a few miles and they caught me too! They made us drink some that made us sleepy. When we woke up we were so far away. It's been days since we have seen Ma and Uncle Thorin." Ori sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, he too looked as if he wanted to cry. Kili was sitting with his arms crossed letting his hair cover his face. "I wanna go home." Fili whispered staring at the table.

Bilbo sighed and stood from his seat, he couldn't just let the children suffer like this. Giving into urge that he had moments before he walked around to the other side of the table able and hugged the children close to him. "We will get you back to them, do not doubt that." Taking his new seat next to the dwarflings he asked another question.

"Did they hurt you?" This was mostly toward Fili but Ori answered.

"They kicked Fili a lot. And slapped Kili. I was quiet." He seemed ashamed of himself for not getting hurt. Bilbo wanted to bang his head against the table. Dwarfs, even little ones were stubborn pains.

"Okay, so it'll be a trip to the doctor after second breakast. Now I'm going to be sending out letters so that your families can come find you." Bilbo explained. "For Fili and Kili it will be their mother and uncle. What about your Ori?"

"Dori and Nori, my brothers."

Bilbo nodded, "Alright after the doctor we will sit down and write the letters, how does that sound?"

Kili and Ori nodded while Fili looked disgruntled at the thought of going to the doctor. Bilbo just laughed and ruffled the blond's hair before standing. "Come now, we have things to do before second breakfast. A trip to the market, Kili, Ori will you come with me? Fili you can stay and get some sleep if you would like." He hadn't liked hearing that Fili had taken a brunt of the damage, it made his heart hurt.

When Bilbo touched Fili's head he noticed the dwarf seemed a bit warm and he was hoping that sleep without the two younger ones would be tempting enough for the elder to stay home, luckily it was.

Bilbo tucked Fili back into bed with care and dressed the younger dwarves properly and left the house. Before they did though, Bilbo tucked back in for a moment. He went into the room where they had all slept the night before and took the dagger out from under the bed and placed it in Fili's hand. Sleepily the blond's eyes blinked opened and then his hand tightened and he tucked it under the pillow. Feeling better Bilbo rushed back out side. There was a lot to do before second breakfast and he needed to get a move on, or they would be late. And Hobbits were never late to second breakfast.


	4. Chapter 4

Fili was good at faking sleep, many times he had gotten out of watching Kili by pretending to be asleep. Of course it didn't always work, sometimes his mother or even Uncle Thorin would simply wake him up and shove the smaller dwarf at him. Fili didn't like those days because it meant that they were low on food and that Ma and Uncle Thorin were worried.

Shaking his head Fili sat up the dagger that he had loaned Mr. Boggins...er Mr. Bilbo still in his hand. Fili's head spun slightly and the breakfast he just ate threatened to come up. Fili who knew better then to waste good food, clamped his knife free hand down over his mouth and breathed deeply through his nose. He couldn't risk getting sick, food had to stay down.

Shuddering all over at the feeling, Fili waited until he felt that he could move. Slowly he eased out of the bed, his bare feet hit the floor with a light thump. Fili wasn't quite sure what a Hobbit was, he had never met one before last night and since he hadn't had the chance to explore he thought that now would be a good time. After all what if the hobbit was simply another snatcher?

Fili's brain happily reminded him that the hobbit had probably killed the snatchers from last night, but Fili had always been good at ignoring what his brain told him. Though unsteady as he walked Fili kept the knife in his hand, and padded through the door. He wasn't sure what he was expecting a Hobbit Hole to look like. It looked nothing like a hole and more like a home. A small round home, but still a home. Fili swayed a bit and rested against the wall. Maybe he should go back to bed, he really wasn't feeling well. Shaking his head and swiftly regretting it Fili whimpered and let the knife slip from his fingers. He needed to explore and then get back to bed, had to make sure Mr. Boggins was safe.

Pushing himself away from the wall Fili managed a few steps and fell into a door, curious he pushed the door open and found himself in a room with a writing desk. Brows furrowed he stepped in closer, curious as to what he could find. Slowly he made his way around the room knocking over piles of books, and disrupting papers making them fly everywhere. Fili never found anything that shouted Mr. Bilbo was a bad guy so Fili left the room and the mess to find another.

Stumbling through the hobbit hole Fili didn't notice the trail of devastation he left in his wake. Every room he entered he disrupted at least one thing, he broke a vase in the hall, knocked over books, sent papers flying and generally left a mess. The worst of it of course was when Fili wandered into the pantry and found small piece of bread. Still hungry the dwarfling tried to eat it and quickly found his stomach didn't like the idea, and all his hard work from earlier trying so hard to keep his food in his stomach was lost. Crying and gagging the little dwarf doubled over emptying the contents of his stomach onto the pantry floor.

Sobbing Fili flung his hair back and cried as some of the vomit slung up around him. Shivering and crying the sick little dwarfling stumbled back toward the bedroom. Fili gagged every time he caught the smell of his sick in his hair, "Ma! Ma! Uncle!" Fili cried unable to understand why his family was letting him suffer like this. Lost and confused he stopped in the middle of the floor curled up into a ball and cried. He wanted Kili, he wanted Thorin, he wanted his mother. Fili wanted to go home.

–

The market was a funny place, hobbits filled the streets trying to find the food they wanted for whatever meal was closest. Bilbo kept the children as close to him as possible. Before entering the fray he made Kili and Ori promise to hold tight to his coat so as not to lose them. Ori he wasn't worried about, the littlest dwarf had far too much excitement the night before and wanted nothing to do with anything similar. Kili on the other hand was bouncing around happy as could be, ready to see the Shire, see the hobbits and generally make a nuisance of himself.

Bilbo never had much experience with children, his own cousins were easily handled by their mothers and Bilbo was the only child of Bungo and Belladonna so he never had any siblings to deal with. As they walked through the streets he couldn't help but wonder if he had done the right thing. His mind refused to think to hard on the happenings of last night but Bilbo could easily ponder if he had done right by the children. He had left a possibly feverish dwarfling with a knife but Fili knew how to handle a blade, that much was obvious.

Bilbo frowned as his thoughts continued to spin, and generally make a mess of his mind as he was supposed to be shopping. "Mr. Boggins, that hobbit is talking to you." Kili said tugging on Bilbo's coat. The bright voice of the dwarfling brought the halfling out of his thoughts. Bilbo smiled apologetic at the hobbit, who was giving him such a curious look, and said almost absentmindedly to Kili.

"Bilbo, please Kili or at least Mr. Baggins. I'm afraid I don't know a Boggins." The hobbit said cheekily. When focusing on the children it allowed him to ignore the night before. As long as he focused on them everything was alright. Turning his attention back to the hobbit in question Bilbo began his shopping trip in earnest all the while picturing the dwarfling in the back of his mind.

While their esteemed Mr. Boggins was busy Kili and Ori were taking in the sights. Never before had they seen a Hobbit's Market. It was much different then the markets of men, and even different then the dealings that they had seen their kin do.

"Look at their feet!" Ori whispered pointing at a woman's feet. They were covered in hair and shoeless. Kili blinked in surprise before puffing up.

"Their hobbits, Ori! Of course their feet look like that." Kili said in a superior whisper. Ori didn't notice Kili's eyes wandering to the feet of their hobbit and breathing a sigh of relief when he too had the hairy feet that that the female had. Ori ignored the dark haired dwarf and stared even more at the hobbits. They were nice looking, kind of fat, but other then that Ori liked them, they looked nice. The littlest dwarf followed along obediently when Bilbo walked off to the next stall.

Kili followed along with a frown, this was boring. He had hoped that the market would be like the ones he had been to with Uncle Thorin but this was nothing like those. His eyes too scanned the market and while Ori liked the looks of the hobbit Kili thought they were a bit funny looking. None of them had beards and they had hairy feet. Blowing his hair out of his face, Kili resigned himself to standing their bored holding onto Mr. Bilbo's coattails until second breakfast, what every that was.

A giggle from behind the dwarflings caught their attention. They stood a curly headed hobbit girl. She wasn't very tall, shorter then both Kili and Ori she had a wide smile on her face and was laughing at them having to stick so closely to their hobbit savior. Kili scowled he didn't like her, she was weird, even stranger then his Ma who giggled like that sometimes when Master Dwalin came by.

"Go away!" Kili whispered loudly. Bilbo spared a look back at his dwarfling who smiled innocently back at him. Rolling his eyes in a very Tookish fashion Bilbo returned to his dealings.

The little hobbit girl shook her head and giggle again. She stared at Kili and then at Ori. "You've got a big nose." The little hobbit said, pointing at Ori's face. Ori puffed up, proud that she had noticed. The hobbit girl turned to Kili. "You're pretty, are you an elf?"

Ori had seconds to grab Kili before he charged the hobbit girl, yelling and squirming shouting words that he had learn from his Uncle Thorin. "Mr. Bilbo! Help!" Ori cried trying to keep his friend from hurting the little hobbit girl who didn't know what she did to offend the cute little boy she had been trying to befriend.

Bilbo turned eyes wide, his simple trip to the market was turning out to be much different then what he had planed.

–  
The trio entered Bag Eng loudly. Bilbo had Kili by the ear with Ori carrying what few packages that they had managed to buy before Kili ruined the shopping trip. Bilbo unlocked the door with a few choice words for the pouting dwarfling.

"I can't believe you. We weren't out for an hour and you nearly attacked that poor girl. Kili, really I-" Bilbo stopped the house was a mess, it looked as if someone had broken in. Fear for Fili swept through him. "Go! Stay outside, out of sight until I tell you otherwise. Now!" Ori dropped the food and he and Kili hid in the garden as Bilbo entered the house.

"Fili? Fili are you there?" he called out softly, as he walked through the hobbit hole. Bilbo let his eyes wander as he searched for a sign of the dwarfling that he had left home for not even an hour. His mind race, what if more snatchers had come? What if they had taken the child? Bilbo couldn't imagine brave little Fili being eaten by orcs, it was too horrible to imagine.

"No..." the knife that he had placed in the child's hand before he left was there on the floor. Bilbo snatched up the dagger, fear eating away at his mind. He had to find Fili. Now.

Walking further into the hobbit hole Bilbo paused, moaning...Quietly he followed the sound until he found a ball of sick little dwarfling. Bilbo couldn't help but cry out. Fili was safe. Dropping the knife he ran to the child. Bilbo didn't care that he was covered in the sick that the child was covered in. Bilbo didn't care that the child fought him until he recognized 'Mr. Boggins'. Bilbo didn't even mind the tears that soaked through his shirt. All that mattered was that Fili was safe.


	5. Chapter 5

Torn between soothing the frightened dwarves in his garden and dealing with the sick one in his lap. Bilbo decided to move Fili first as he was the immediate concern. Bilbo struggled to get the dwarfling back into a bedroom, all the while wondering just what had happened why he was gone. The only idea he had was that maybe Fili stumbled out of bed, and had gotten confused as to where he was. It seemed probable enough. Shaking the thoughts away, Bilbo set about laying the sick child on the bed. Fili whined so pathetically it made Bilbo's heart hurt. He soothed the child with soft words and pats. "I'll be right back, I just have to go get Kili and Ori." Fili sniffed a bit and whimpered as the hobbit left the room.

Hurrying he scooped up the grocery bags and stuck his head out the door. "Come, come, it is safe." Kili's head popped out first, eyes narrowed as if he wasn't sure if he trusted the hobbit. "Fili is ill, come along, we have to start trying to get him well again."

At the mention that Fili was ill Kili jumped up and ran for the door. Ori followed swiftly behind. Bilbo had to move aside to keep from getting bowled over by a worried little dwarfling. Ori stopped running when he reached the house while Kili ran all the way to his brother.

"Is Fili going to be alright Mr. Bilbo?" Ori asked fiddling with the hem of his tunic. Bilbo bit his lip and placed his hand on the dwarflings shoulder and gave him a pat. Ori frowned and followed the hobbit back into his hole.

Bilbo waved Ori off and told him that he could watch Kili and Fili but he couldn't get too close, as he wasn't sure if what the Dwarfling had was contagious or just from the enormous amount of stress that he had bee under. Bilbo had a feeling that the men hadn't been shy about their intentions with the dwarflings and Bilbo feared that the stress from trying to protect young Ori and Kili was the cause of the sickness.

"Kili, Ori come here a moment." Bilbo called out. Ori came first and soon a reluctant Kili followed soon after. Bilbo smiled thankfully at them. "I need your help carrying this." He motioned to the items he had selected to help with the sick child. Kili scowled ferociously but gathered up a few things, as if he couldn't believe that he had been torn away from his brother for simply acting as a pack pony. Bilbo bit his tongue and helped Ori load up his items before taking the heaviest for himself.

The bedroom smelt of sickness, and the poor dwarfling still had vomit in his hair and his skin was soaked with sweat. Bilbo sighed softly and softly thanked Ori and asked that he go play either in the garden or in somewhere in the house. Bilbo had a feeling that Fili had a lot of pride for being such a young dwarf and that he wouldn't want anyone to see him like this. Ori left uncertain but he left all the same leaving Kili as the final obstacle.

"Kili, go play with Ori. We do not want you getting sick too." Bilbo told Kili, the dwarfling scowled angrily and turned back to his brother, ignoring the hobbit. Bilbo tried again, "I promise to take good care of him, Kili. Nothing will harm him here." The hobbit could almost see the youngster give in, Kili was such a trusting little thing. It made Bilbo's heart hurt that he could still trust after the incident with the snatchers. "I need you to protect Ori while I try and make Fili feel better. Can you do that for me?"

Kili looked from his brother to the hobbit and after a long while he nodded. "I'll watch Ori." he whispered. Kili hopped off the bed and turned to the door. Kili turned to face the hobbit just before he left. Bilbo met the dwarflings eyes with ease, Kili suddenly looked years older his voice was strong and Bilbo knew that he spoke the truth. "Keep him safe Mr. Boggins. Or I'll never forgive you."

–

"How much further, Thorin?" A deep, but feminine voice asked.

"Not too much longer, sister. Be calm we will find them."

–

"Kili...I want to go home." Ori said sitting side by side with the older dwarf. Kili nodded but didn't reply. "Mr. Bilbo is nice but I miss Dori and Nori...I just want to go home." Tears welled up in the dwarfling's eyes and Kili continued to ignored the younger dwarf. His mind was firmly on his brother, while he agreed with Ori that Mr. Bilbo was nice he too wanted to go home. He missed his mother, and Uncle Thorin. They only boon that had been granted him was Fili. Kili couldn't imagine what would have happened had Fili not been with them.

The two dwarflings sat together on the front step of Bag End looking hopefully out at the road. Hoping, wishing that they would see some sort of familiar figure on the horizon. None were seen.

"Come now, surely I am not so horrible a host?" The dwarflings jumped at the unexpected voice from behind them. There stood Mr. Bilbo, slightly damp but smiling all the same. Kili jumped up, little Ori not far behind him both yammering questions about the ill elder dwarf. Bilbo silenced the children with a raise of his hand. "Hush now, let me speak. Fili is doing well. His fever has gone down and he is sleeping now."

Kili frowned and crossed his arms. "I wanna see Fee!" Bilbo blinked and worked hard to resist a smile, the little dwarf looked ever so cute pouting as he was. Ori ever trying to catch the eye of the elder dwarf soon copied Kili's stance.

Bilbo laughed his first laugh in a long while. "How about this? I will start lunch, since we missed two very important meals already and then after we have been all fed and watered, if Fili is awake you may play quietly with him" Bilbo knew that Fili wasn't going to wake before dinner not with the sleeping medicine that he had been given. Bilbo had taken it more then enough as a child he knew how long they lasted. Luckily the children did not and agreed easily.

Bilbo sat them at the table and made a quick cold lunch. All throughout the meal, Kili babbled and Ori latched onto every word spoke. Bilbo contented himself with smiles and soft, small words when needed. His mind lost between the fear from the night before and the terror of the early morning. Ever so often a small hand would touch his arm and Bilbo would find Ori looking at him with concern that a child should not know.

The meal was short and Bilbo allowed the children to peek in at Fili, Kili was of course distressed when he found his brother still sleeping. Bilbo swore that the child was alright, just sleeping to get better.

"Mr. Bilbo, can we write that letter now? To send to Uncle Thorin." Kili asked as the hobbit cleared away the plates. Ori nodded frantically and Bilbo paused in thought had it only been this morning that he had promised that?

"Of course...after we clean the house. Fili made a bit of a mess this morning while we were gone." Bilbo said when remembered the mess the dwarfling had made of the hobbit hole. Even sweet little Ori had a look of distaste on his face a the mention of cleaning up. Bilbo gave a short laugh. "Come now, surely even dwarves have to pick up after themselves?"

"Ourselves, not icky sick people." Was Ori's reply.

"Fili is not icky!" Kili shouted puffing up like an angry cat.

"Is too!" Ori said back scrunching up his face in remembrance of the vomit in the young dwarf's hair.

Bilbo laughed and settled the fight. "I thing you are all a bit 'icky' myself, your not hobbits after all." he said slyly. Suddenly bother Ori and Kili were up in arms, defending dwarves to their hobbit host.

–

They had just finished the letter, and passed it off to various hobbit in hopes of getting it to one of the Rangers that were coming to deal with the bodies found on the edge of the Shire. Bilbo hoped it would find the elder dwarves soon so the children could rest easy.

"When will Fili wake?" Kili didn't let the question be answered before asking another. "Mr. Boggins, can Ori and I go play in the garden?" Kili was bored sitting around the hobbit hole. Bilbo didn't have children and he hadn't been prepared to have children stay for an unspecified amount of time so he had nothing to entertain the children with.

Now after checking on Fili once more and finding him still asleep Kili was bored out of his little dwarfian mind. Ori had been easy distracted by Bilbo's knitting, insisting that Bilbo teach him how to do it. With a happy smile, Bilbo taught the young dwarf how to hold the knitting needles and how to begin as it turned out Ori was quite a little knitting genius. Ori was slowly working on his first scarf. Kili had taken one look as the task and firmly refused learning, claiming it was far too boring.

"It's almost time for dinner, lad, if you were to play outside now you would have to take a bath before dinner!" Bilbo cautioned. The mention of the word bath was more then enough to change the youngsters mind and bring a pout to his face. Bilbo thought for a moment. "How about I tell you a little more about hobbits, maybe even a story or two?"

"Oh, please Mr. Bilbo I love stories! Can you please tell one?" Ori asked as he paused his kitting. Kili looked skeptical but nodded anyway.

Bilbo closed the book he had been thumbing through and thought. Where to start. "First I will tell you a little more about hobbits. You see we hobbits are funny things, with out hairy feet." Bilbo raised his foot as an example. Kili nodded seriously and Ori laughed.

"And our prim and proper manners. You young dwarves are the epitome of what an Outsider is to us."

Kili interrupted, "What an outsider?" He asked curiously.

Bilbo answered easily, "Anyone that is not a hobbit." He smiled a bit and continued. "We never get very big. In fact the men mostly call us Little Folk, but then again you dwarves do not get much taller then we do. We live longer then men, but you dwarves age like the mountains you hail from. We hobbits would much rather live out our days with warm toes and full bellies then do it any other way. " Bilbo gave a smile and moved on in his storytelling.

"Now that you know a bit more about us, let me tell you, have you ever heard of the game golf?"


	6. Chapter 6

The day ended much calmer then the night before. There were no screams of terror, there were no too close flames, or horrible stories of murdered children, no frightened dwarflings, just a muffled cough and the snores that echoed throughout the hobbit hole. Bilbo found himself tucked away in his own bed that night. Kili and Ori in a bedroom, and Fili conked out in his own room so as not to share the sickness.

Bilbo's mind was racing away, twisting and turning whispering things to provoke more and more thought, at a time that all good little hobbits should be asleep. As much as he wished for sleep, the horrors of the night before were fresh in his mind. As he laid in the dark he couldn't help but wonder if he did the correct thing. The question was slowly eating away at him, he saw the eyes of the men as they went blank and their lives ended. Bilbo shivered and pulled the thick blanket over his body tighter.

Bilbo turned upon his side and curled up into a tight ball, he thought of the evil, horrible picture that the men had painted for him with their words. A soft whimper escaped his lips. He felt sick at what he had done, during the day he had a way of focusing on the dwarflings so that it masked these feelings. At night, in his bed, surrounded by only his own accusing thoughts Bilbo was helpless to fight off the tide that his mind supplied.

Softly so as not to wake the children, he allowed himself to sob. Tears welled up from his eyes and his body shook, as his shoulders heaved. It wasn't until two sets of small arms wrapped him in a hug that Bilbo noticed that he wasn't alone.

"What, what are you doing up?" Bilbo asked his voice tight with tears. Ori said nothing and wormed his body in closer to Bilbo's own.

"We had nightmares." Kili whispered crawling over the hobbit. Soon Bilbo found himself surrounded by dwarflings, one on each side, heads tucked into his chest. "Can we stay with you?" Kili asked softly, as if he feared that speaking louder would get them cast from the bed.

Bilbo didn't speak, he just nodded and grabbed tightly to the nightshirts he had put the children in before tucking them in hours before. He couldn't speak and silent sobs still rocked through him, but there surrounded by two of the three dwarflings that he had saved Bilbo could not and would not say that he regretted what he had done.

–

Fili arose with the sun, and unfortunately so did his illness. The sound of distressed dwarfling was what roused Bilbo from his sleep. When he heard Fili suffering a room over, he carefully extracted himself from the two little dwarflings that had managed to latch onto him rather tightly during the night. After a near miss, when Kili hesitated to latch onto Ori and instead Ori had to initiate the cuddling, Bilbo escaped easily.

Bilbo reached Fili in record time after a quick pit stop to get the youngster a glass of water and the hobbit was greeted with the smell of bile. Frowning Bilbo sat down on the bed near Fili's feet. Fili had manged to get it into the bucket that was at his bedside for that very purpose luckily and his hair had been pulled back to stop a repeat from yesterday but the dry heaves were tormenting him.

The hobbit, carefully rubbed Fili's back, whispering words of comfort. "Hush now, lad. Breath for me, come on I know you can do it." Fili tried valiantly to do as asked and eventually calmed enough to speak.

"I don't feel good, Mr. Boggins." The young dwarf's eyes were bloodshot and sweat once again clung to his skin. Bilbo was unhappy to see that he was shivering ever so slightly. It appeared that it was not as he had hoped, a stress illness.

"I know you feel rotten, lad, but come now take a drink it will help settle your stomach to have something in it," Bilbo said lifting the glass to try and urge the child to drink. Fili whined but obediently took a small sip. The cool refreshing water felt wonderful on his poor abused throat.

"Mr. Boggins, what's wrong with me?" Fili asked looking up with fevered eyes at the hobbit. Bilbo frowned and pressed his hand to the youth's forehead.

"I do not know, but I intend to find out." Bilbo said with steel underlying his voice. "I will go out and get the doctor today." When Fili rather suddenly turned a spectacular shade of green and then promptly lost the water he had just drank, Bilbo shuddered and rephrased. "On second thought, I will send for the doctor. We will await him here."

–

Bilbo had greeted the man with a strained smile and a clasped hand. Ori and Kili watched from behind a door as their Mr. Boggins brought the stranger into their home. The hobbit doctor was unlike anything the little dwarves had ever was plump and cheerful, he had gray in his hair and lines on his face but he wasn't Mr. Bilbo.

"Thank you for coming, Doctor." Bilbo said sounding much more relieved then he cared to admit. He wasn't an expert on hobbit children so sick dwarven children were a complete and utter mystery to the master of Bag End. Though he would admit that he was slowly getting the hang of dealing with them, very slowly.

"It was problem, young Bilbo, I must admit that we have been rather curious about your...guests." The doctor hobbit gave Bilbo a curious look. "You have attained a bit of a reputation as of late, lad. With your rowdy younglings and of course your previous reputation that followed you from your own days as a youth. Why with the way one of them acted in the market, we have to wonder, how you came about them. Surely you understand, Bilbo." The doctor gave Bilbo what he believed to be an understanding look.

Bilbo narrowed his eyes. So the others in the Shire didn't like the dwarflings, if he had to guess why it had something to do with Kili's run in with the little Brandybuck girl. Feeling insulted on behalf of the children Bilbo spoke with a voice like ice. "Yes, well, I suppose it's the Took blood within me. My mother was never one to turn away guests and I find that I am indeed my mother's son. Now I believe that I asked you to come here in a professional sense? I do have a sick child in the next room, please when you feel like acting as an adult again, follow me and we can see about getting him better."

With that Bilbo turned on his heel, leaving the stunned older hobbit standing mouth agape in the parlor.

"You meanie! Mr. Bilbo is very nice and you should be nice to him!" Shouted Ori. The dwarfling ran up to the doctor and soundly kicked him in the shin. Kili hooted and hollered cheering on the normally passive dwarfling before deciding it was time to retreat. Kili the mast mischief maker that he was, grabbed Ori by the hand and left the stunned, stuffy old hobbit standing alone.

Bilbo smiled into his hand as he listened to the sound defense that Ori had presented for him. When two giggling children entered Fili's sick room he turned to them sternly. Both boys gulped and shrunk down, afraid that they had made Mr. Bilbo mad, but the hobbit smile and raised a finger to his lips asking for silence. "For lunch how about I make my fierce young defenders something sweet?" The two cheered softly as the doctor entered the room, his face still stuck in the same baffled expression that Ori had left him with.

–

The cheerful atmosphere that was in the room didn't last long. As Bilbo, Ori and Kili sat a little ways away from the bed the doctor looked over the dwarfling with a frown etched firmly on his face. He gave little hmms and hums as he checked Fili's vitals. "Had he managed to keep anything down?"

Bilbo shook his head, "Not really. I've tried light broths and the like but anything other than water he can barely keep down. Its why I called."

The doctor frowned again. "Well I can say that I have seen this before, never in a dwarf, and luckily if the other two have not caught it yet then I would wager that they will not." Bilbo nodded in understanding. "It's a disease that men are very susceptible too. The flu they call it. As I said I have never seen it before in a dwarf and was unaware that they could catch diseases like this."

Kili gripped the hobbit's hand and Ori grasped the other, both were worried about their brother/friend. "Is he going to get better?" Kili asked plainly. Bilbo shushed him gently.

The doctor, sighed and placed his hand upon the damp blond head. "If we treat it properly. I will need to speak with you alone Bilbo, please send the children outside." Bilbo reluctantly did as he was asked and ushered the children just outside the door. Ori and Kili shared a silent look and dove toward the crack in between the door and the floor to listen.

"The issue here is keeping the young master dwarf well watered. Illnesses like this do not kill in their symptoms they kill with dehydration." They heard the Doctor say. Kili bit his tounge so not to make a noise.

"I know. He can't keep any water down, though. If it does not come out his mouth then it comes out the other end something awful." Bilbo explained worriedly.

"He has to keep liquids down, Bilbo, this is serious. If there is no improvement soon I fear the worst for the child."

"Ima goin' die!?" Fili shoute sluring his words slightly, the young dwarf had been faking sleep and after the last comment he could no longer pretend. "I'll drink more, please I don' wanna die!" The blond dwarf cried his voice harsh with thirst. Bilbo's eyes widened and he rushed to comfort the child.

"Hush, lad, hush. I promised you nothing would happen to you. We will get through this don't worry." Bilbo chanted petting Fili's face and hair trying to calm him. The doctor watched worried, it seemed their Mr. Baggins was becoming far too attached to his guests.

"Come by later in the afternoon and I will have a tonic or two that should help settle his stomach. Maybe even one to keep the fever away. Right the only advice I can offer is to drink water, lad." that last part was directed firmly to the dwarfling.  
–

"Has anyone heard news of the team sent to the halflings?"

"No."

"Not I."

"They were supposed to report back today, but no one from their outpost as seen hide nor hair."

The conversation continued in hushed voices surrounding a table. Even in their own base of operations, they dared no speak too loud.

"Rangers were called out that way. They were said to arrive late this afternoon. Rumor is some Little Folk killed five men!"

Someone scoffed, "Five men? The hobbits killed five men? I think you are a fool."

"A fool he may be but we are still missing three of our own and at least three pay out from the orcs!"

"Munvan, Vor. You two go find our missing members."

"Yes, sir." They said in unison.


End file.
